


If my life is in shambles (why do I feel so good?)

by bruisingknees



Series: shambles [1]
Category: Druck | SKAM (Germany)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Canon Trans Character, Fluff, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-07 22:45:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18882766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bruisingknees/pseuds/bruisingknees
Summary: The IKEA pencils are undoubtedly the worst. They’re too short, so they’re quite uncomfortable to work with long term, and they don’t write that well either. Matteo worked weekends at IKEA last summer though, and on his last day, he kind of took a whole box home with him.This guy doesn’t seem to share Matteo’s appreciation for things that are free andtherethough. Instead, he’s looking down at the pencil in a very’this is not what I didn’t pay for’way. Matteo literally has nothing else to offer though.An alternative universe where Matteo and David meet in uni. The Boy Squad is Dumb, and there are a lot of misunderstandings.





	If my life is in shambles (why do I feel so good?)

**Author's Note:**

> I was actually writing a completely different fic, when I saw [this post on tumblr](https://transdavenzi.tumblr.com/post/184912365645/what-i-would-really-fucking-like-to-get-is-a-fic) that just completely sparked my imagination. I don’t know if this is what the anon had in mind, but this is what my brain came up with! Also have to note that this was inspired by a one direction fanfic I read half a decade ago (lmao exposed). I tried to find it to link it, but I just can't find it anywhere anymore, sorry!
> 
> Title is from the song Shambles. by Ben Zaidi. 
> 
> Also, this is more than likely not an accurate representation of the German University system. I went to uni in Belgium (and majored in communication science) so at least it's based on _something_ European! (Also, you know what they say: [communications is phony major](https://youtu.be/_4OuAAM4v_Y).)

“Hey, pssst.”

It takes Matteo a second before he realizes someone is trying to get his attention.

“Hey,” the voice repeats.

Matteo finds himself catapulted straight out of his pretty epic space-out, and back into the first year intro to communication class he’s currently at. The teacher clicks to the next slide, and the girl next to him is scribbling away as if she’s busy writing Germany’s next greatest novel.

Matteo turns around to check out the source of the catapulting.

A boy with big, dark hair and even bigger eyes is smiling at him. “Hey,” he repeats in a whisper. “You don’t happen to have a pen I could borrow? Mine kind of exploded.” He holds out his hands and Matteo can see splotches of rubbed-dry ink on his fingers.

“Uh. Sure,” Matteo turns back to his desk and awkwardly reaches under it so he can stick his hand down his backpack. He grabs around in there, ignoring the half-empty packet of gum, squishy banana and crumbled up tissues, until his hand closes around a small pencil.

Matteo presents the guy behind him with an IKEA pencil. 

“Thank you.” He says it like he's not sure, though. 

The IKEA pencils are undoubtedly the worst. They’re too short, so they’re quite uncomfortable to work with long term, and they don’t write that well either. Matteo worked weekends at IKEA last summer though, and on his last day, he kind of took a whole box home with him. 

This guy doesn’t seem to share Matteo’s appreciation for things that are free and _there_ though. Instead, he’s looking down at the pencil in a very _’this is not what I didn’t pay for’_ way. Matteo literally has nothing else to offer though.

Matteo grabs his own IKEA pencil he’s been taking notes with (or had been, before his epic space out) and uses it to give the boy a little "whatever, you're welcome" salute, before turning back to face the front of the class.

Matteo’s unable to relax for the rest of the morning.

Before being asked to borrow a pen by a total stranger, Matteo had been happily feeling quite invisible in this giant lecture hall. Like he was just flying under the radar, able to get away with whatever. Now he can’t stop wondering if the guy sitting behind him is still looking at him, or if maybe _all_ the people behind Matteo are looking at him. 

Maybe there’s something in his hair. He wouldn’t know if there was. It’s not like he ran into any of his roommates or friends on his way to campus this morning. And how likely is it that a stranger would stop him and say: “Hey, mate, you got a giant ball of lint stuck to the back of your head.”

Matteo tries to casually, unnoticeably, drag his hand through his hair and check. 

Luckily it feels fine.

The introduction to communication science class lasts three hours and starts at the actual break of dawn. It’s not the worst class Matteo’s taking this semester, but it’s also not the most interesting one either. It's just even harder to focus because of how early he has to get up to make it there; and because the people around him are all either writing notes at a speed so alarming that it’s making him feel like he’s falling hopelessly behind; or actually sleeping like the girl two rows ahead of him.

By the time class ends at noon, Matteo is feeling a little paranoid and a lot hungry.

When he finally manages to gather all his stuff and drag himself out of his seat however, the guy from earlier is still standing by his own seat, seemingly waiting for Matteo.

“Thanks again,” he says, trying to hand the pencil back over.

“Oh,” Matteo looks down at the now-even-smaller pencil and its newly sharpened point. “No, keep that. I have like 50 of those.”

“In that case,” the guy says, taking back the pencil and pocketing it. “Double thanks, then.”

“No problem.”

“I’m David,” David introduces himself.

“Matteo,” Matteo replies.

“David, come on,” someone calls from the door. "I’ve been starving, waiting for your class to end.”

“Yeah, coming,” David calls back before giving Matteo one last smile and disappearing up the stairs.

\---

Two days later Abdi’s saving them all seats in the cafeteria, looking absolutely depressed.

“What’s wrong?” Carlos asks, concerned. 

Carlos puts down the sandwich Abdi requested and takes the seat next to him. Jonas and Matteo take the seats opposite, and Matteo has to admit that Abdi does look quite defeated.

“It’s Sam,” Abdi says. “She’s moved on.”

“What do you mean she’s moved on?” Matteo asks, unwrapping his own lunch and taking a bite.

“There’s some new guy,” Abdi mumbles. “They’re always together, it’s – I waited too long. I know I waited too long, and this is my own fault. But I never thought that seeing her with someone else all the time would make me feel this shit.”

“Oh fuck, I see it.” Carlos says. Abdi breathes out a _thanks, dude_ , but Carlos clarifies: “No, I’m literally seeing it right now – they just walked into the cafeteria.”

All four of them turn to the door to see Sam walking in with David.

“I know that guy,” Matteo says. “He’s in my communication class.”

“I think pretty much everyone knows him,” Jonas says. “He spoke at the first years' event, at the beginning of the school year. You know, the one you slept through. He was there to talk about the theatre group, and also about football, I think? I don't know.”

“He’s got like a billion friends,” Carlos agrees. “He’s never alone.”

“He asked me for a pen last Tuesday,” Matteo says, watching David and Sam walk up to the line. David says something to one of the lunch ladies. She smiles and gives him an extra piece of bread.

“Why did he ask you for a pen?” Jonas squints at him.

“I don’t know. He was sitting behind me, and suddenly tapped me on the shoulder and asked me for a pen.”

“Why wouldn’t he ask the person sitting next to him?” Jonas insists.

“Why would he ask _you_?” Carlos agrees with Jonas. “You don’t have pens.”

“How could he know beforehand that I don’t have pens?” Matteo asks.

“You gave him an IKEA pencil, didn’t you?” Jonas grins.

“Well, yeah.”

“I hope his hand cramped up,” Abdi says darkly.

Abid continues to pout all throughout the rest of their lunch.

\---

Now that he's been made aware of David, Matteo can’t help but notice him in class the next week. It’s a really big auditorium, which is quite necessary to fit in the really big group of people taking the intro class. There are communication students taking it, sociology students and even some political science students. The auditorium can seat a hundred people, easily, and David sticks out immediately with the boldly patterned, brightly colored shirt he's wearing today. 

He’s sitting roughly in the same spot he was last time, which just so happens to be in the area where Matteo likes to sit as well. It’s quite far to the back, so not too directly in the professor’s line of sight. It's also close to the doors, and when they open the windows, a nice breeze passes through there on hot days.

Once he's spotted David though, Matteo wonders, for just a second, if he should just sit somewhere else today. 

_Why_ would he do that though? It’s not like sitting near Abdi’s love rival is somehow disloyal to him. This guy probably won’t even remember Matteo anyway.

Matteo walks up to his usual seat and keeps his eyes down.

“Hey,” David greets him.

Just his luck.

Matteo looks up and takes in the rest of David's outfit. He's not only wearing a very bright shirt, but also bright sneakers and tight black jeans. He’s got a blue backpack on the floor, with two pins of colored flags on it.

Matteo realizes they’re pride flags, he’s just not sure what exactly they’re being proud of. It’s not the gay one, the rainbow flag is the one Matteo actually knows. It’s also not the bisexual one, he thinks. He saw that one painted on Mia’s face when her, Hans, Lin and Matteo went to pride last summer, right after Matteo came out. Hans was in full outfit, Mia had been more downplayed, but still pretty out and proud with her pink, blue and purple colors. 

Matteo had worn jeans and a t-shirt. He'd left after twenty minutes.

“Hi,” Matteo replies, belatedly.

“Thanks again for saving the day last week,” David tells him. “Never had a pen revolt against me in such a dramatic fashion before. It took me days to scrub the ink off.”

“Must’ve been something you wrote,” Matteo replies.

“Ah, you think I offended the pen while taking notes on a class on verbal communication?”

“Well, that’s what you _say_ you were doing. I can’t actually know for sure what you were writing,” Matteo shrugs. 

“You’ve got me,” David nods seriously. “I was actually writing hardcore pokémon pornography. You know, to pass the time.”

The girl that's passing behind David’s row to get to her seat, makes a weird squeaky sound and gives Matteo a wide-eyed look before scurrying off further down the row to take a seat.

David, realizing they were being overheard, clears his throat and blushes attractively.

“I guess the cat’s out of the bag on that now,” Matteo teases.

“Yeah. Outed once again,” David sighs.

The teacher enters the room and Matteo is grateful that he can turn around and focus on that now, instead of on the boy sitting behind him.

\---

Matteo asks to borrow Jonas' phone at lunch. "Mine's out of data," he explains to his best friend.

The weather's nice and sunny enough for October, so they're having lunch in the courtyard outside now that they still can.

"You cheap ass," Jonas complains, but he has an unlimited data plan and hands his phone over to Matteo without any further whining anyway.

Matteo opens the safari app and googles the flags he saw pinned on David's backpack. He finds the pink, yellow and blue one first: pansexual pride. The blue, pink and white striped one is transgender pride.

"You better not be looking at porn," Jonas warns him suddenly.

"I'm looking up some things. Educational things," Matteo reassures him.

"What then?"

Matteo turns the phone to Jonas. "These two pins were on David's backpack this morning." He shows Jonas the pan flag first, then the trans one.

Jonas takes the phone and reads the short summary under the pictures. "That explains a lot," He says.

Matteo takes the phone back. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure I saw him making out with a guy at that party after initiation."

"Oh," Matteo says.

"He's got game," Jonas continues. "I wouldn't be surprised if Sam's not the only one, you know what I mean?"

"Yo, guys," Carlos and Abdi arrive at their little lunch spot, carrying two pizza boxes.

"What's Matteo doing with your phone?" Abdi asks, taking a seat next to Jonas.

Carlos pulls the phone out of Matteo's hands and says: "Doing research on the T in LGBT, apparently."

"Fuck off," Matteo complains, wrestling the phone back out of Carlos' hands and clutching it to his chest.

"Why?" Abdi asks.

"Just saw someone with a transgender pride flag and was wondering what it was," Matteo answers vaguely.

"If I were you I'd go back to research on the G, bro," Carlos says.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"When did you last go out on a date with a guy?" Abdi asks.

"Never," Jonas replies straight away.

"Exactly," Abdi concludes.

"Fuck off, I've been with plenty of guys," Matteo says. 

Lies. He hasn't been with any guys. The very few times he drunkenly made out with a guy at a party here or there, after coming out last summer, were either less than memorable or even less worthy a repeat performance.

"Dude, we're just saying," Jonas says more gently. "You could try and get out there more, if you wanted to."

"I don't want to."

"Maybe you could try joining the university’s LGBTQA club," Carlos suggests, as if Matteo hadn't just said: no, thanks.

"I'm good," Matteo repeats, continuing his read on Jonas' phone.

"Fine. Die lonely then," Carlos shrugs.

Matteo can see Jonas punch Carlos in the arm out of the corner of his eye.

\---

The next day David is somehow in Jonas and his' sociology class as well. 

It's probably that _awareness_ again that makes Matteo notice David almost immediately. He's wearing a patterned shirt again, but this time it's all in black and greys. He smiles when he sees Matteo and even throws him a little wave.

Matteo can feel Jonas' eyes burn into his back, so all he does in reply is give a weak half-smile and throw himself down into his usual chair.

This class is a bit smaller than the communication class, but it's still pretty packed. Unlike his other classes though, this one he takes with Jonas and Jonas always insists on sitting near the front. He says that it'll make the professor remember him more clearly and thus will make it more likely that he'll do well on the exam. Jonas also tries to answer the professor's questions as often as he thinks he'll be able to give a clever reply. It always makes Matteo feels put on the spot when everyone around them turns to watch Jonas answer.

"Uhm, what was that?" Jonas asks him after he’s taken his own seat.

"What was what?" Matteo plays dumb and dumps three IKEA pencils on his folder.

"Why was David waving at you?"

"I told you, we have communication together." Matteo shrugs. 

"You and about 150 other people."

"I gave him a pencil."

"And now you're waving at each other from across the room?" Jonas asks.

"I don't know what to tell you, he keeps talking to me."

"Oh, I bet he does," Jonas says, letting out quite the annoyed grunt. 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Matteo asks.

"Didn't we just establish yesterday that he's a bit of a fuckboy?" Jonas asks slowly, like he needs to go slow enough so Matteo can keep up with the conversation.

"What does that have anything to do with anything?" Matteo asks, getting a bit annoyed now. 

"You know!" Jonas says. "He probably just wants to fuck you, or something."

"Jonas," Matteo whispers, embarrassed as the girls in front of them start not-so-subtly looking their way. "He's not trying to sleep with me."

Jonas snorts disbelievingly. "He could be."

"Sure," Matteo says. Unlikely, but _sure_. "But he's not. I'm also not some naive, young kid whose virtue you have to protect or whatever."

Matteo is downright insulted by the look of _but I do_ that Jonas shoots him. Matteo doesn't back down and keeps glaring right back at him though. After another half a minute later Jonas gives in and says: "Just, be careful. As you might remember, he's also fucking Sam and that's a sensitive subject with Abdi. In my opinion, that's a mess you don't want to get involved in."

"Exactly," Matteo says. "He's with Sam so why would he be hitting on me. It's fine and I won't get involved."

The teacher enters and Matteo's never been more grateful that Jonas is a giant nerd who pays attention in class, cause at least that means he'll leave Matteo alone for a solid couple of hours.

(Every time Matteo happens to look behind him at the back of the auditorium, the pretty girl next to David is whispering something in his ear.)

\---

"Yo."

The next Tuesday David sits down in the empty chair next to Matteo, five minutes before class is supposed to start.

"Hi," Matteo says, looking behind him at the row David usually occupies. There's still plenty of empty seats there.

David follows his gaze and says: "I thought I'd try a seat down here today. Just in case you’re on to something by always sitting here. Unless you were saving this seat for someone else?"

"No, I don't know anyone in this class."

"You know me," David says, all cheek. 

"Do you ever really know someone though?" Matteo asks and when David laughs something in his stomach squirms.

"You've got that whole fake deep college student down," David tells him. "Nice."

"Well, if you can't be _actually_ smart, the next best thing you can be is fake deep." Matteo grabs his textbook and some IKEA pencils from his bag.

The teacher enters the class and David asks: "Can I borrow this?" Selecting one of the four pencils Matteo has strewn about all over the desk.

Matteo shrugs and tries to put all his focus towards paying attention to the teacher starting the class, instead of watching David handle the tiny little pencil.

Today's class is on all forms of non-verbal communication. The teacher's got this voice you could easily fall asleep to, which is just one hell of a thing to combine with an early morning class. Through pure power of will Matteo manages to make it through, and that with only looking over at David four times. 

Maybe five.

When class is almost over, David slides a piece of paper towards Matteo. 

On it is a sketch of a dark-haired boy sleeping on a familiar auditorium desk. There's little _zzz_ s around his head and a mountain of IKEA pencils all over the floor by his feet. Matteo is genuinely impressed by how nicely the drawing’s been done. He's still staring down at it when the teacher dismisses the class and everyone around them starts packing up.

"Thanks," David says, sliding the pencil back toward Matteo.

"Oh. Yeah, sure."

When he's sure David's left and can't see him anymore, Matteo folds the drawing closed again, and puts it in his textbook so it doesn’t get damaged in his backpack.

\---

"That son of a bitch," Abdi says, slapping Matteo's arm as if the alarming pitch of his voice hadn't already alerted Matteo to his imminent breakdown.

"What? Fuck." Matteo asks, trying to move out of Abdi's slapping range. "Dude, stop."

"Look!" Abdi points to where a group of people - people and David - are walking across the courtyard.

"What?" Matteo asks, trying to slide down his seat a little lower in case Abdi's crazy behavior and pointing has attracted the attention of the people he's pointing at. "Stop pointing, fuck."

"He's with another girl, again."

And yeah, David's walking next to a girl.

"So? They're just walking."

"He's carrying her backpack. I bet they're fucking," Abdi accuses.

"What are you talking about?" David's got his own blue backpack slung over his left shoulder and a bright yellow one on his left shoulder. The girl's got her hand curled around his bicep as they walk. It does look a little cozy, Matteo's got to admit. 

He tries to slide down his seat even more.

"He's cheating on Sam," Abdi concludes.

"How do you know that Sam and he are dating again?" Matteo wants to know. 

"I saw them cuddling this morning in the hallway," Abdi mumbles. "He's also all over her insta. He's always spending the night. It’s just, fuck, it just blows."

"I'm sorry, man," Matteo can't even imagine how much that must suck for Abdi.

"It'd be cool if like, if he was good to her, you know?" He asks. "But he's always just fucking around. I heard he's got a thing with one of the guys in his football club. Then there's Sam, and now there's this girl as well?"

"Jonas saw him making out with some guy at orientation," Matteo says.

"See?" Abdi groans. "He's bad news and Sam deserves better."

Matteo opens up the Instagram app on his phone and goes to Sam's profile. He scrolls through her profile and there really are quite some pictures of her and David on there. Pictures of them wearing sweats and watching TV, pictures of them having breakfast together. There’s even one of David with Sam and her roommates, Kiki and Hanna, all together at dinner.

Matteo taps the group pic on Sam's page once to see the tagged names. He clicks through to David's Instagram profile. He scrolls through the account, and looks at all the sketches and drawings David's posted. 

He must've zoned out, looking at David's Instagram profile, because the next thing he knows, Jonas startles him by all but jumping on his back and yelling his hellos. 

Matteo fumbles his phone's screen on lock and quickly puts it back in his pocket.

\---

The next weekend finds them at a party. 

Jonas knows someone, who knows someone, who's having a birthday or something. So now they're at some random girl's house, drinking wine coolers. It’s been a while since all four of them went out like this. Matteo feels like when they left high school, they sort of left all these house parties behind as well. They’re much more likely to go to a bar now or just chill at someone's place. 

The music that’s playing is pretty good though, and the drinks are free, so Matteo doesn’t really mind that they came here instead tonight. 

That is until David walks through the door. 

Matteo instantly feels his whole body sort of lock up when he sees him. He tells himself it’s because he doesn't want any trouble between Abdi and David. Not that he thinks Abdi would come out swinging, but he's already had a couple of these wine coolers and his broken heart seems to still be going strong. You never know what could happen.

One of the first clear thoughts Matteo has after he's seen David walk in, is that he hopes David doesn't come over and say hi to him. He doesn't know how he'd explain that to Abdi. 

He’s probably been staring at David for a full five minutes when he realizes that David isn’t going to acknowledge him at all, actually. 

Somehow that makes him feel worse.

Jonas returns with a round of shots he managed to scrounge together somewhere though, so Matteo tries to focus on that burn instead. 

 

It's hours later, when he's waiting in line for the bathroom, that David finally comes up to him.

"Hey, where do you know Brian from?" David asks him.

"I don't?" Matteo answers. 

“About this high,” David says, reaching his hand way up high. “Ginger? It’s his birthday party you’re at?” 

“I thought we were here for a _girl_ 's birthday," Matteo says honestly. 

"Nope," David laughs. 

"Where do _you_ know Bruce from then?"

"Brian."

"Brian," Matteo nods. “Of course.” 

"Theater," David says, leaning against the wall beside Matteo.

"Right," Matteo says.

"Right?"

"Yeah, I heard you're a theater geek," Matteo says before his brain can catch up with him.

Judging by his grin, David doesn't look too insulted though. 

"You're not interested in joining then?" David asks. "We still need some people for our Juliet play."

"Ah, I see," Matteo says. "You're just here to recruit me."

"Yup," David agrees. "I've been tasked with casting tree number four at this party."

"I do an excellent tree," Matteo says, holding up his arms like branches and watching David giggle.

A girl exits the bathroom and walks straight towards them. "Ready, Romeo?" she asks David.

Matteo, suddenly embarrassed, lets his arms fall back down.

"Talk to you later," David calls out to him before leaving with the girl.

The line to the bathroom moves on, but Matteo turns around to go and tell the boys he's gonna call it a night.

\---

David comes to talk to him during sociology. 

"You missed class yesterday," he says, and Matteo can _feel_ the question marks coming from Jonas, who’s sitting next to him in stunned silence. 

"I overslept," he doesn't lie. 

He did, in fact, sleep through his alarm. Except he was woken up by Hans’ alarm clock ringing in the next room over only 15 minutes later. 

If he'd hurried, he could've made it. Except, lying in bed and thinking about how it'd felt to see David leave with that girl, hadn’t motivated him to put in any effort. He actually hadn't had the heart to face David again at all. 

He’d felt entirely too pathetic, lying in bed and contemplating whether he wanted David to sit next to him again that day, or whether he would prefer it if David just left him alone and forgot all about him.

His treacherous heart is making it known now, that it would prefer David to sit next to him. 

"I’ve been there," David says. "Too bad though, you missed a great class." He widens his eyes sarcastically and it looks really attractive, somehow. 

"I bet," is the best reply Matteo can come up with.

Even when Jonas clears his throat, Matteo doesn’t find it in him to turn and see what kind of expression is on his best friend’s face. 

"Sorry, hi," David directs at Jonas. "I'm David."

"I know," Jonas says. "I'm friends with Sam."

"Oh, you know Sam?” David grins. “She's really great."

"She is," Jonas replies. 

"That's Jonas, by the way," Matteo says when David starts looking more and more uncomfortable under Jonas’ scrutinizing glare. 

"Nice to meet you," David offers. 

When Jonas grunts in reply, Matteo says: "He hasn't had his coffee yet."

The teacher comes into the room then, and David, for some reason, takes the empty seat next to Matteo. 

"What I came over to tell you, is that if you need notes for yesterday’s class you can copy mine." 

"Yeah?"

"I'm free after this class, if you want to-" David is saying until Jonas interrupts them with a whispered: "Class started.”

Matteo silently turns to face the front of the classroom. 

_Sorry about my friend_ , he writes on a note he passes to David, _caffeine withdrawal is no joke_.

Matteo is rewarded with a small smile. 

_It's cool._

_I'm busy after class_ , Matteo clarifies as well. _But thanks :)_

 _That's cool too_ , David writes. _Next week then maybe_.

 _I'm a cool guy, it’s true_ , Matteo scribbles down. 

David smiles and playfully rolls his eyes at the note. He doesn’t write anything else and Matteo tells himself he doesn’t feel disappointed. 

 

When class finally ends David slides another piece of paper towards him. "See you guys around, then." He says, shouldering his bag and leaving. 

It's a drawing of a to-go cup of coffee. He's drawn a pair of sunglasses on the cup and the word _caffeine_ wraps around the cup in an impressive cursive. 

"You're copying notes from someone who'd rather draw for two hours than pay attention in class?" Jonas asks. "Good luck, dude."

It isn't until later that day, when Matteo’s taken out the drawing from where he’d carefully kept it in his textbook, that he notices the _David_ , alongside a phone number scribbled in tiny script along the lid of the cup.

\---

David’s already seated when Matteo gets to intro to communication the next week. Matteo answers David’s smile and wonders if he should go sit next to him. He ultimately decides to just be normal and go and sit at his regular seat.

“So you made it out of bed this morning," David says, leaning over his desk to get closer to Matteo. 

“A miracle,” Matteo agrees. 

David leans back in his chair and Matteo faces the front of the class, suddenly very disappointed with his choices. 

When 9:00 A.M. rolls around and their teacher still hasn't shown up, everyone starts getting a little rowdy. 

“Guess the professor _didn't_ make it out of bed,” David says a couple of minutes later. 

Just at that moment, a frazzled looking man walks through the door, announcing that class is canceled due to the teacher being sick. An excited whoop goes through the room, but all Matteo can think is: I woke up for this?

“Guess it was all for naught,” David echoes his thoughts. 

“Ugh,” Matteo agrees, letting his head drop on his desk somewhat dramatically. 

“Wanna go grab a coffee?” David asks him. 

“I want to go back to sleep,” Matteo says into his arms. But, fueled by his earlier disappointment, lifts his head and says: “Yeah, sure.” 

They walk to the coffee shop across campus together and it’s sort of awkward. 

Matteo isn't sure why he expected it to be easier. It's not like they have anything to say to each other, do they? It doesn't help that being around David always makes him feel slightly nervous. He always thought it was because he was doing something he wasn't supposed to. He was talking to _the enemy_ and if Abdi knew he'd be upset - and if Jonas knew he'd be mad. 

He's starting to realize that the way David makes him feel is probably a little more complicated than that, though. 

They’re waiting in line when David asks him what he wants.

“I’ll get an orange juice,” Matteo says. 

“No coffee?” David asks. 

“Don’t really drink coffee. Almost had to give up my Italian citizenship because of it.”

“Oh, I can imagine, what made them let you keep it then?”

“I really love pasta and pizza, and I’m a menace on a Vespa.”

“So it was one of those 2 out of 3 ain’t bad situations?” David asks. 

“Yeah, exactly.” 

When it’s David’s turn to order he turns to the girl behind the register with the biggest smile. 

“Hi, good morning. How are you?” 

The girl dimples at him, “I’m fine thank you, yourself?”

“Morning class just got canceled so I’m really great, actually.” 

Matteo wonders if they know each other or if David is just always this chatty to strangers. 

“Wow that is lucky,” the girl agrees. “What can I get you?”

“I’ll have an espresso, one of those donuts and O.J. for my friend.”

The girl smiles at Matteo with considerably less enthusiasm. “Coming right up, guys.” 

Matteo tries to pay for his juice but David is not having it. The girl giggles at their back-and-forth and even chimes in to say he should just let David pay for him. Matteo is pretty sure David winks at her at some point. 

Once David's coffee's been made, they find a couple of empty seats near the windows. David goes back to asking Matteo about his Italian family. Matteo feels himself getting more comfortable in the conversation. It's endearing how David holds his cup of coffee with two hands, and Matteo finds himself matching David's questions with questions of his own. He finds that he genuinely wants to know the answers, and wants to get to know him better. 

Their drinks are just finished when a group of boys starts thumping on the window next to them, almost making Matteo jump out of his skin. 

David looks pleased to see them though, and the guys all pile in through the door, immediately heading towards their table. 

David gets up from his seat to greet them and he gets lifted from the ground by a hug from one of the guys. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be in class, Mr. Schreibner?” The guy asks. 

“Got canceled,” David says. 

“So you’ve got time to come to practice then?”

The guys are all wearing sports outfits and carrying gym bags. Matteo thinks they're probably the football guys David was talking about earlier. 

“Oh no, I’m busy right now.“ David says, nodding his head back at Matteo. 

“Actually I’ve got to get going,” Matteo says, getting up as well. “It’s definitely time for that nap now. I’ll see you around.”

“Oh, okay,” he hears David say. 

Matteo has to squeeze through the group of guys to be able to get out of the coffee shop. 

\---

That Thursday there’s some sort of club fair going on on campus. There are stalls set up all through the main hallway leading towards the cafeteria. Different social and political clubs are trying to recruit members, or get the word out about club activities that are coming up. Carlos and Matteo each have a class in the side of the building, so they met up for lunch and are now walking to their respective classrooms together. Jonas just joined them, as he's actually got a late class that afternoon but wants to go do some research in the library beforehand. 

“Maybe I should pick up polo,” Carlos tells them, looking down at the flyer someone gave him at a stall they just walked by. 

“Like, with horses?” Matteo asks. 

“No, water polo.” 

Matteo shakes his head and artfully dodges another girl flyering, before she can even try and approach him. 

“There are no horses in water polo,” Carlos says, seemingly to himself. “I don’t think so at least.”

“Dude, you don’t even like to swim,” Jonas points out. 

Matteo’s just about to question Carlos if he’s _sure_ there are no horses in water polo, just to fuck with him, when he sees the bright pink banners of the school’s LGBTQA club at one of the stands. 

“That’s the dude,” Jonas says.

“What dude?” Matteo asks. 

“David's _boyfriend_ or whatever. Fuckbuddy? The dude I saw him making out with.” 

An attractive, tall guy is manning the stall. He’s got broad shoulders, light eyes and the kind of hairstyle that looks effortless but Matteo is 100% sure actually takes a lot of product and time. Matteo's hair certainly never looks like that. 

David’s standing on the other side of the table, hip cocked and laughing at whatever the guy’s saying. 

“Hey guys,” Mr. Handsome calls out to them when they get nearer. “Do you want some condoms?” 

David turns to them and smiles when he sees Matteo. Matteo tries not to feel self-conscious about the fact that he’s wearing his last clean shirt and his last questionably clean pair of pants. When was the last time he washed his hair? 

“Oh, cool,” Carlos says, bounding over for the freebies. 

Mr. Handsome gives Carlos a handful of condoms and starts his pitch about the LGBTQA center on campus, and where they can find them if they ever need to talk. 

“Cool,” Carlos is saying, “I’m straight but my boy Matteo here is gay so if he-“

“Dude,” Jonas says, disbelieving. 

“It’s fine,” Matteo says. 

“Dude, chill,” Carlos rolls his eyes at Jonas. 

When Matteo came out last summer, it was at the tail end of a really low period of time for him. He’d been pushing his friends away for so long he actually thought he’d ruined things forever with them. It’s not that coming out to his friends had made everything magically better, but it had been the start of a much lighter, happier Matteo and a much better friendship with the guys. 

Jonas sometimes still got a little weird about it though. Like he blames himself that Matteo didn't or couldn't come out to him sooner. It's made him protective over Matteo. Like he needed to shelter him from things like people saying shitty and homophobic things, or from people like _David_. Or from Carlos saying he's gay to people manning an actual LGBT stand. 

“You’re welcome any time,” Handsome Guy directs at Matteo, who doesn’t really know what to say to that so just awkwardly smiles and nods. 

It’s David who finally breaks the silence by telling Carlos: “I actually think you’re in my statistics class." 

“The one that starts in like seven minutes?” Carlos asks him. 

“That’s the one,” David agrees. 

“I’m Carlos,” Carlos clutches his free condoms to his chest and reaches out to shake David’s hand. 

“David,” David says. 

“Oh fuck, that’s right.” Carlos only now seems to recognize David. 

David frowns at him. 

“No, I mean. I know you, is all,” Carlos says. “Or I know _of_ you, at least.”

“We all know Sam,” Matteo says before Carlos can put his foot in even more. 

“Oh, okay,” David says. 

He doesn’t quite sound like he believes him though, and Matteo hates Carlos and his stupid, big mouth. “I’m gonna get going to statistics then.”

“Oh, wait up, I’ll walk with you,” Carlos says. 

They say their goodbyes and David shoots Matteo another glance before walking off with Carlos. 

“Don’t forget your free condoms,” Mr. Handsome tells him, giving Matteo five of them. 

Jonas and he keep walking and it doesn’t take Jonas 20 seconds before he grumps: “Why is everyone best friends with David all of a sudden?” before taking off to the library, leaving Matteo standing alone in the hallway with his hands full of condoms. 

\---

"So, you know David, right?" Leonie asks him, completely out of left field. 

Matteo hasn't talked to Leonie in an eternity. It's been even longer since he talked to her just the two of them. It'd be enough to put him on edge _without_ her bringing David into the conversation right off the bat.

"He's in my communication and sociology classes," Matteo acknowledges.

"I've seen you two talking," she says, looking at him so intently he wishes he could just leave. He's still waiting for Jonas to get out of class though, so he'll just have to make it through this.

"Yes?" He asks. “So?”

"I was just," she starts, suddenly looking unsure, "wondering if he's mentioned to you if he's seeing someone?"

"Uhm." What?

"I've tried asking him myself, but his answers are always so vague. I get the feeling there's someone he likes but..." she trails off.

"And _you_ like him?" Matteo asks. An uncomfortable feeling starts taking root in the pit of his stomach.

She doesn't reply to his question, but instead sighs and asks again: "Do you know anything or not?"

"I don't know," Matteo replies, uneasily.

She's narrowing her eyes at him now. "You look like you do."

"I really don't," Matteo shrugs. "I mean, I've heard things?"

"What have you heard?" She demands. 

"That he's a total player?" Matteo blurts out. 

"What?" She asks, clearly taken aback.

"I'm pretty sure he's with Sam, or with that guy from his football club, or with that other guy from the LGBT center? I don’t know. I mean, do what you want but I don't - I don't think this is a good idea and I don't think he's a good guy for you."

"What the hell are you talking about, he's not with Sam.” Leonie starts. 

Matteo is literally _saved_ by Jonas turning a corner and approaching him.

"I gotta go, Leonie." He tells her, taking off towards Jonas. 

“Thanks a lot,” she calls after him, sarcastically. 

\---

The uneasiness follows him around for the rest of the day. He keeps thinking about Leonie and David together. At the same time though, he also keeps thinking about David's phone number, programmed in his phone but unused. 

He's started at least a dozen messages to him now. They're usually just "Hi." Sometimes it's something funny he saw out on the street, or a joke in a stupid show that made him laugh. He wonders if David would find it funny as well, if Matteo could make him laugh. 

But then he remembers Sam, and all the other people getting David's attention. 

Matteo wonders if it's selfish to want all of someone's attention. If maybe it's a good thing to just take what you can get and learn to appreciate that. David's drawings constantly move between being placed neatly on Matteo's nightstand, and angrily shoved in the nightstand's little drawer instead. 

When Jonas calls him later, and asks him what's up and why he sounds down, Matteo lies. 

\---

He was supposed to pick up a book at Kiki's place hours ago. As a great metaphor for his life, he forgot and took a nap instead. He woke up hours later, disoriented and to a couple of messages from Kiki, asking him where he was. He contemplated just calling it a day and going back to bed, no matter how ill-advised that was, but in the end he did the right thing. Matteo thinks he deserves about a million adult points for getting out of his bed. Honestly though, in most other scenarios he wouldn't have bothered, but the thing is, he really needs the book this weekend for an assignment. 

It was the right decision, but that doesn't mean Matteo has to be happy about it as he hops on his bike and rides it over to Kiki's. He just hopes that if Kiki isn’t home anymore, at least Sam or Hanna will be there to open the door for him. 

When he gets there, however, it's someone very unexpectedly who opens up.

"Oh, hi," David says.

He's wearing sweat pants, cut off at the knee, and a giant, poofy sweatshirt. His hair is dripping wet and he obviously just got out of the shower, as he’s still holding the towel he's using to dry his hair.

"Uh," Matteo replies eloquently.

David seems the shrink a little under Matteo's staring, and he awkwardly crosses his arms over his chest. " _Hi_ ," he repeats.

"Hi, sorry," Matteo says. "Is Kiki here?" 

"She's taking a shower," David says. "Do you want to come in?"

"Yeah, I just need to grab a book? She should've put it aside for me."

"Let's go find it then," David steps aside to let him in.

Matteo awkwardly follows David inside the girls’ apartment. He's only been here two times prior. He helped move in Hanna's stuff in the middle of the sweltering heat of summer, and then he was there again for the house warming a couple of weeks later. 

"She shouldn't be too long," David breaks the silence. They're still standing in the hallway, and it doesn't look like David's going to invite him to wait for Kiki in the living room or anything. 

David actually looks downright uncomfortable with Matteo's presence and Matteo doesn't know if it's something he did, or because they're at David's girlfriend's house or what. Matteo doesn't know what to do to make it not feel like this. 

"Is Sam in?" He asks, grasping at straws now. 

"No, she's at her parents' for the weekend," David replies. 

Matteo can hear the shower running in the background. The shower Kiki is now standing under - naked. Matteo's mind goes completely blank for a second until a million thoughts start rushing through his head all at once. The only one he can focus on being: _what the actual fuck?_

"I just," Matteo says. "The book. It's Kafka."

"I'll go ask," David says, taking off down the hall to presumably go into the bathroom and ask a showering Kiki about her book.

David's back in under a minute, but it feels like Matteo's mind has had several hours to spin out of control. 

"She said it's just on her bed, and we can go in and grab it," David says, leading the way to Kiki's bedroom. 

"Yeah, that's it," Matteo sees the book and walks up to Kiki's bed. There's a picture of Kiki and Carlos on her nightstand. Matteo remembers that day in the park, he's pretty sure he took that picture. Carlos had it printed out for her. He'd wrapped a bow around the frame and everything. It had been really sweet. 

“What’s going on here?” Matteo finally asks. “You know she has a boyfriend right?”

“What?” David asks. 

“Kiki. You know she’s got a boyfriend, right? You met him two days ago. Carlos?” 

Matteo feels this kind of anger that's mostly composed out of feelings of _hurt_ and betrayal. The thought that Jonas warned him about not getting involved is almost too much now. And of course Matteo had to go and do just that. 

“Yes, I know she has a boyfriend.”

“So you just don’t care?” Matteo asks. “And you don’t care about Sam either.”

“Sam?” David asks, and Matteo doesn't know if he's playing dumb or what but he sounds so confused. “Matteo, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“This, you sleeping around with all these people.” Matteo accuses. 

“Who’s sleeping with whom?” Kiki asks, walking into her room in a pair of red pajamas. “What’s going on, why are you guys arguing in my bedroom?”

“Apparently I’m sleeping around with a bunch of people,” David replies. His jaw's locked tight, and his arms are crossed across his chest again. 

“What?” Kiki asks, turning to Matteo. 

“What is going on here?” Matteo asks her instead. He's getting sick of everyone playing dumb. He doesn’t want to hear any of their bullshit, he just wants to know the truth. Wants to know if these people are going to break his friend’s heart. “Why are you two showering together and-“

“Wow, what?” Kiki asks, holding out her hands as if Matteo's a rabid animal she needs to calm down. “We were _not_ showering together. David took a shower, and then I took a shower. Separately. What are you even saying right now?”

“But why was he taking a shower here in the first place?” Matteo asks. “Sam isn’t here.”

“Because I live here?” David asks. 

“You live here?” 

“Matteo, what the hell is going on?” Kiki asks again. 

“You’re living with Sam?” Matteo asks David. 

“Why do you keep bringing up Sam?” 

“She’s your girlfriend, right?”

“No, she’s not my girlfriend,” David says firmly. 

“You’re not with Sam?” Matteo asks. “You haven’t slept with Sam.”

“No, I have not slept with Sam,” David grits out. 

“And not Kiki either,” Matteo says slowly. 

“So that _is_ what you were trying to say,” Kiki says. “Damn you, Matteo. I can’t believe you’d come into my home like this and accuse me of cheating on my boyfriend.”

“I think this is more a reflection on me than you though,” David tells her. 

Kiki turns to David questioningly and David goes on: “Apparently Matteo’s been talking to people about me. He told Leonie that I’m some kind of bad guy? That I don’t respect women and that I just-”

“No,” Matteo defends himself. “That’s not what I told her at all.” That's not what he said to her and Matteo wants to be angry at her for going to David and telling him about their conversation, but all he can feel is this numb kind of dread. 

He's fucked up so badly. 

“Then what did you tell her?” David demands, voiced raised and angry now, where before he'd appeared deadly calm. 

He looks so upset and Matteo doesn’t understand how all of this could’ve spun out of his control so badly. 

“I just,” Matteo doesn't know what to say. They're both looking at him so intently. Nobody wants Matteo to be able to explain this more than Matteo himself does. He just doesn't know what to say. 

“I think you should just leave,” Kiki tells him after a minute. “Just take the book and leave.” 

Matteo can’t even look at David.

He takes the book and leaves. 

\--- 

David arrives late to class on Tuesday and sits at the front of the classroom, he doesn’t even spare Matteo a single glance. 

He’s all Matteo’s been able to think about since Saturday. 

If he’s honest with himself, he’s all Matteo’s been able to think about for weeks now. 

Matteo somehow managed to hurt everyone so spectacularly. He’s surprised Carlos is still speaking to them. Carlos is many things though, but he’s never been one to hold on to negative feelings towards his friends. He's always the one who wants to resolve things, and Matteo's never been more grateful for him. Still, Matteo did accuse his girlfriend of cheating on him.

“Just a misunderstanding,” Carlos had said. 

Matteo isn’t sure if he deserves to get off that lightly. Well, Kiki still isn’t speaking to him, and neither is David, obviously. 

Matteo spends the whole class staring at the back of David's head and hating himself a little bit more with every passing minute. 

\---

David doesn’t show up to their sociology class on Wednesday. Jonas doesn’t give him any shit for looking at the door every five minutes. 

“Do you like him or something?” He asks Matteo as they’re walking to the library after class. 

“I don’t know,” Matteo says. “It’s just. I keep thinking back on everything and about how he’s always been so _nice_ and I was just holding back cause I thought he was just messing around. And then I was so fucking horrible and accused him of being a dick and just. Thinking that he’s angry with me, or that he’s _upset_ , just makes me want to throw up or something, fuck.”

“So, you like him,” Jonas concludes for him. 

Matteo doesn't deny it. Doesn't _want_ to deny it.

“Man, how do you think I feel?" Jonas says. "At least you were nice to him before. I was just - cold and dismissive.” 

“Yeah, you were kind of a dick.”

“I thought I had to look out for you!” Jonas defends himself. 

“Why would you need to look out for me?” 

“Because even back then. Like from the start, you were different around him or when we were talking about him. You got all _quiet_ and shy and I was worried he was gonna take advantage of you or something. Break your heart.” 

And Matteo gets it, he does. He doesn’t want anything bad to happen to his friends either. “Thanks, dude.” He says. “But maybe next time let’s not just decide someone’s the worst without being absolutely sure.”

“Yeah,” Jonas agrees. "Sorry, I feel like I was the one who really pushed this whole narrative and now everything's a mess."

"No, this is my own fault," Matteo says. 

They reach the library and make their way towards the secluded study halls at the back. “So what are you gonna do now?” Jonas asks quietly.

“About what?” 

“About David.”

Matteo shrugs, “I don’t know.”

“Well if you _like him_ ,” Jonas says, “you should probably go and talk to him, or something.” 

“Or something,” Matteo agrees.

Fuck. 

...

David opens the door and for a second all Matteo can think is how unprepared he is for this. How badly he wants this to be resolved, but how unqualified he feels to be the one to do the resolving. 

“Hi,” he says. That’s as good a place as any to start. 

“Hey,” David says, unmoving in the door opening. “Kiki isn’t here. Neither are Sam and Hanna.” And Matteo knew that, actually. He got tipped off by Carlos saying the girls were having a night out so he was safe from their wraths. 

“Yeah, I’m here for you. To say sorry, to you.” 

It feels like an eternity before David steps aside to let him in. 

They sit down on opposite sides of the coffee table. David on the recliner that Matteo remembers seeing in Hanna’s mom’s house, and Matteo on a big, plush couch. 

“So, I’m sorry.” Matteo starts. 

“Okay,” David says. His face is completely unreadable. 

“We got the wrong idea. Horribly.” Matteo starts. “ _I_ got the wrong idea. Can I explain, please?" 

David shrugs. 

“Abdi’s been into Sam for forever now and when we saw how close Sam and you were, we thought you were together. But then you were also really close to all these other people and – you have a lot of friends. Our imaginations just kind of ran with it, I guess.”

"It’s none of your business who I seep with,” David states simply. 

“You're right, it's not.” 

"I honestly can't believe you and your friends just thought I was out there cheating on my supposed girlfriend and just being a giant dick to everyone." 

And the thing is that Matteo can't believe it either. That's so obviously not David, and he doesn't understand how muddled his mind was that he couldn't recognize that everything he felt was just confused jealousy. He allowed his friends to just fill his head with nonsense, and he wasn't brave enough to sort through his own feelings for himself. 

"I gave you my number," David says, softer now. "For a second I thought that when we spent the morning in the coffee shop last week we could count that as a date. I wouldn't do all that if I was already seeing someone else."

Everything in Matteo twists painfully. 

“Look,” David sighs, “If you didn’t like me, or don’t want to hang out with me, you should’ve just told me and I would’ve backed off. There’s no need to go and say shit about me to people. I’ve had so many people talk shit about me behind my back and I didn’t think you-”

“Fuck, David, that’s really not it." Matteo interrupts him. "It’s definitely not that I didn't like you. I liked you too much, that’s the problem. I liked you too much and Leonie was talking about dating you and I was so goddamn stupid and jealous. I never, ever meant to – I never thought you were a _bad_ person.” 

David takes some time to process Matteo's little outburst. 

“You _liked_ me?” He asks. 

Matteo buries his face in his hands. 

“Matteo?” 

“I said what I said, and you heard what I said, so.” Matteo mumbles. 

“But like – liked as in, past tense?”

Matteo opens his eyes again, and David looks like he’s trying not to smile. The relief almost floors Matteo. He would've done anything, said anything, made a fool out of himself in any capacity, just to make that sad, hurt look from earlier go away. 

And now it's gone cause Matteo said he likes him. 

“You’re really gonna make me say it again, aren’t you?”

“I think I deserve that much, right?” David asks, getting up from the recliner and coming to sit down next to Matteo on the couch. 

“I really like you,” Matteo repeats softly. 

David nods. “Okay, can you please take off your coat? This has been bugging me pretty much since the start of this conversation.”

Matteo gets out of his coat. “I didn’t want to get too comfortable in case you were gonna throw me right back out.”

“Plus being uncomfortable really helps when you’re groveling,” David agrees. 

Matto holds his coat in his lap, but David reaches out to take it from him. He drops it on the floor, behind the couch, and scoots closer to Matteo. 

“I tell you I like you, and you tell me to take off my coat,” Matteo mumbles. “What kind of response is that.”

David shrugs. “You were starting to look a bit red, I was afraid you were going to get overheated.”

And Matteo knows he deserves all this teasing and much, much worse, but he’s also kind of bared his heart here. Matteo's can't help but think that it's a good sign that David is smiling though, but he's also not going to allow himself to hope anything until – 

David leans in and kisses him. 

It only lasts a couple of seconds, but Matteo almost loses himself in it completely. 

“I like you too,” David whispers after he's pulled back. 

“Okay,” Matteo whispers back. “That’s good.”

“I think you’ve done enough groveling,” David says softly. “Want a hug?” Before Matteo can even process that fully in his head, his body is already slumping into David's.

“I’m so sorry,” Matteo says again, into David’s shoulder this time. It’s a bit muffled, but he hopes David got it anyway. 

“Don’t make me feel like that again.” 

Matteo shakes his head. 

“Fool me once, shame on you.” David runs his hands through Matteo’s hair. Matteo kind of just fists his hands in David’s sweater and hopes he never stops. “Fool me twice, shame on me, and all that.”

“I won’t,” Matteo promises. 

David gently pulls at Matteo's hair to get him to relinquish his place on David's shoulder. Matteo feels bereft for a second until David leans in for another kiss and that's even better. 

Matteo makes David laugh softly when he groans into the kiss, _embarrassingly_. Their foreheads touch and Matteo’s hands are still fisted in David’s sweater. Matteo is trying to allow his heartbeat to regulate itself a bit before leaning in again for another kiss, but apparently David isn’t on the same page and is already back for another kiss - and another one, and another one.

They don’t stop kissing until Matteo’s lips are tingling and sore. Even then his heart still feels like it’s going to beat straight out of his chest. 

\---

“Wake up,” Matteo mumbles into David’s neck. 

Matteo’s spooned up against David's back and he gives David a little squeeze. Still no response. 

“David,” Matteo says more loudly. “Wake up.”

“Whu-“ David asks sleepily. “What’s going on?”

“Wake up.”

“No. Why?” David complains. 

“There’s noises coming from the apartment,” Matteo whispers.

“Yeah, so?” David laughs. “I live with three other people.”

“Yeah so, you’re gonna have to sneak me out,” Matteo says. 

David turns around in Matteo’s embrace with a frown. “Why?”

“If Kiki’s out there,” Matteo says, “I’m in trouble.”

“Why? She’s only tiny, Matteo, you can take her,” David laughs. 

“You were there,” Matteo hates to remind David. "She's vicious when she's angry."

“She really is,” David agrees. He stretches and leans in for a kiss. His eyes are still half closed though, so he ends up kissing Matteo's chin instead. It makes them laugh, and Matteo takes hold of David's chin to hold him still and kiss him on the lips. 

“Well, we’ve got two options then, I guess.” David finally offers. 

“Okay?” Matteo says, running his hands through David’s hair. 

"One: we stay in bed forever – or at least until the girls are gone. Two: we face them like the brave men we are.” 

"Hmm. Option one, please.”

David’s grinning at him like he wouldn’t mind that, when suddenly there’s a brisk knock on the door, followed by Carlos’ voice calling out: “David, Kiki wanted me to ask you if you want pancakes.”

“Oh fuck,” Matteo whispers. 

“Uhm,” David calls out, shooting Matteo a helpless look, as if Matteo has any clue what the fuck to do. 

Suddenly the door swings open. 

“Oh _fuck_ ,” Matteo repeats. “Bro! Privacy?” 

“Oh, bro!” Carlos calls out, clearly _exstatic_. “What are you doing here?! Wait, don’t answer that. I think I can put two and two together,”

“That's just great."

David looks a bit scandalized at Carlos just barging in like that, he's sat up and pulled the duvet up to his chin. He's still laughing though, so it must not be too bad. “Guess you’ll _have_ to face Kiki now.” David says. 

“Relax,” Carlos says. “Don’t worry about Kiki, dude. I’ve told her to cut you some slack, since you’re such an idiot and all-“

Matteo throws David’s pillow in Carlos’ direction, but it flops to the floor nowhere near Carlos. 

“Missed,” Carlos yells out, closing the door behind him just in time before Matteo’s shoe hits it. 

“Fuck,” Matteo says again. 

David lies back down and noses his way up Matteo’s neck, in a truly toe-curling way. Matteo's finally relaxed into the sensation when he hears an excited: “Look, look, look,” and David’s door swings back open. Both Carlos and Kiki are staring down at them now. 

“ _Carlos_ ”, Matteo doesn’t screech. David pulls the duvet over his head. 

“Oh my god,” Kiki says, but she looks happy, rather than murderous, and while it’s all a bit embarrassing, Matteo will gladly take it. 

“He really is an idiot,” She says. 

“I told you,” Carlos nods. 

“Carlos, Kiki, some privacy, please?” Matteo says. 

“Are you guys gonna fuck?” Carlos asks, wiggling his eyebrows. 

“I thought you didn’t want us to tell you,” David says from under the duvet. 

Thankfully Kiki seems to realize they're being quite rude, and she makes Carlos leave them alone, promising to save them some pancakes. 

David gives Matteo a cuddle to somewhat alleviate the embarrassment of his friends being absolute dickheads. 

“Can you believe them?" Matteo asks David. "I don’t put out until date three. Carlos should know that.”

“Luckily I’m a total gentleman,” David nods seriously. 

“They’re so embarrassing,” Matteo groans. 

“He’s your friend,” David laughs. 

"She's your roommate," Matteo counters. "Oh, and don’t worry. He’ll be your friend as well in no time.” 

David laughs, but doesn’t seem to object. 

“At least there'll be pancakes,” Matteo whispers. 

“Yeah, at least there'll be pancakes,” David smiles at him.

**Author's Note:**

> Really hope you enjoyed it! 
> 
> I’m actually already sorta writing a (short) sequel to this that’ll be more about them actually being together and navigating their new relationship and all that good stuff! So let me know if you’d be interested in that and watch this space :)


End file.
